The Gateway Grizzlies announce that the “Braggin’ Rights” rivalry baseball game between the University of Missouri Tigers and the University of Illinois Fighting Illini will return to Grizzlies Ballpark on March 26th. Gates will open at 5:00 p.m., with first pitch scheduled for 6:00 p.m. This year, Mizzou will be the home team and occupy the first base dugout, while Illinois will be on the third base side.
The two teams will play each other for the third straight year in Sauget, with the game featuring exciting action on the field in each of the last two seasons. In 2023, the Tigers beat the Fighting Illini in a thriller by a final score of 6-5, scoring three runs in the first to take an early lead before Illinois eventually came back. In 2022, Missouri won 11-7 in a contest that featured four home runs and a whopping eight multi-run half-innings in total. With the pair of victories, the Tigers took a 16-14-1 lead in the all-time series.
Mizzou enters their first season under new head coach and St. Louis native Kerrick Jackson in 2024, with the former Kirkwood High School standout returning to Columbia after serving as an assistant there from 2011-15. The Tigers will also feature St. Louis-area natives Brock Daniels (St. John Vianney), Jack Holubowski (Marquette), Kaden Jacobi (Liberty), Ian Lohse (Marquette), Tyler Macon (Kirkwood), Kaden Peer (Christian Brothers), Victor Quinn (Liberty), and Daniel Wissler (Fort Zumwalt West) on their roster this year.
The Fighting Illini are seeking to return to prominence under longtime head coach Dan Hartleb, who enters his 19th season as head coach and 34th on the Illinois staff overall, and has guided the program to four NCAA tournament appearances, most-recently in 2019. Edwardsville, Illinois native Drake Westcott highlights their 2024 roster, coming off a season where he hit .299 while leading the team in home runs (18) and RBIs (47).
To purchase tickets, go to gatewaygrizzlies.com/
Jason Guerette is the Grizzlies' Director of Broadcasting and Media Relations and the "Voice of the Grizzlies." 2023 will be his second season with the organization, handling lead broadcasting duties on the Grizzlies Media Network as well as being in charge of all team press releases and game-day media materials.
2023 will also be Jason's ninth season in the Frontier League after spending 2014-21 in the same role with the Southern Illinois Miners. Overall, he has broadcasted close to 800 games in the league, including playoffs. During the baseball offseason, he serves as a play-by-play broadcaster for Manhattan College and the New Jersey Institute of Technology, with games being seen on ESPN+ among other platforms.
In addition to broadcasting, Jason works as a public address announcer for Seton Hall University women's basketball as well as Columbia University men's and women's basketball. He also spent nine years working "behind the scenes" as a freelance board operator and highlight editor at Westwood One for their coverage of the NFL, NCAA football, and NCAA basketball.
Jason graduated from Seton Hall in 2012 with B.A. in Communication Studies and a minor in Broadcasting & Visual Media.
